Communities across Greater Cincinnati are keeping the Juneteenth celebration going from June 19 into the weekend.
Florence, Liberty Township, and Over-the-Rhine will host Freedom Day events on Thursday, complete with live music, food, trucks, and cultural experiences. Florence's celebration at the Florence Nature Park Event Center runs from noon to 5 p.m. Liberty Center will feature a night of live music, spoken word poetry, and other cultural activities from 6-9 p.m. Over-the-Rhine's festival at Washington Park goes from 4-8 p.m.
The Urban League of Greater Southwest Ohio is also throwing a block party in Avondale from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is welcoming the community to its Juneteenth Jubilee at The Banks on Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The Freedom Center's president, Woodrow Keown Jr., says the event will highlight Cincinnati's unique connection to the liberation of enslaved people.
"Enslaved people escaped from slavery in the South and in the Kentucky-West Virginia area," Keown said. "[They] came across the Ohio River and pursued freedom. Starting in Cincinnati, but a lot of them worked their way on to Canada, where slavery had been fully outlawed."
The event will culminate with a march to the banks of the Ohio River, which thousands of enslaved people crossed on their journey to freedom through the Underground Railroad. The Freedom Center will have free parking and admission to the museum on Thursday.
This weekend, North College Hill is throwing a two-day Juneteenth Jam, starting with a community resource fair Friday morning and food and games at North College Hill Middle School in the evening.
Saturday morning, a Juneteenth parade will kick off from North College Hill High School at 9 a.m. and end at the nearby Chase Bank, where the community can take part in an interactive Juneteenth history and cultural presentation with young performers from the Bi-Okoto Cultural Center.
Bi-Okoto's development director, Funmilayo Ajamufua, says the kids will be performing songs and dances from West Africa that they've been working on this summer, but the audience is invited to join in on the dance floor and learning more about the region's culture.
"They will not just be performing, they'll be interacting with the audience," she said. " Bringing them out to try the movements too."
North College Hill's Juneteenth Jam Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
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